Member Reviews
This is a fast paced fun book and if you are willing to suspend disbelief, just enjoy the ride. The premise is great, Evie, the SAT tutor, walks in to an upscale LA home and finds her student’s parents dead and a young woman tied up in a closet. The student then hits Evie in the head with a lamp and Evie and the mystery woman flee. There is a coast to coast escape route while the police digest ‘Evie sitings.’
The writing is strong and funny in parts. The ending is a little flat. I think this is a strong debut. 3.5*. I will look forward to more from this author.
Thank you to Net Galley and Harper Collins for an advanced reader copy!
Thank you, NetGalley, for this ARC of 'Killer Potential', by Hannah Deitch, provided in exchange for an honest review - expected release date March 18, 2025.
I'm rating this a 3 because the writing was good, descriptive and detailed, especially for a debut, but I had a hard time getting through the book.
The relationship between the two main characters Evie and Jae, as strangers, progressed too quickly romantically/intimately - it seemed unbelievable to happen that fast on Evie's side, given what horror she had stumbled into when meeting Jae and the lack of response from Jae as they started their escape journey.
The whole road trip was also unrealistic. Stealing multiple boats and cars, IDs, money and making it across a country's border all undetected and evading many people who recognized them as criminals from the media blasts. That being said, while it dragged on in some parts and was over-the-top, it did provide entertainment and I wanted to see how it ended. It didn't seem like there could be a good outcome for either Evie or Jae so I was surprised to see where the author took it and how she made it "work".
This book had Killer Potential but...just didn't do it for me in the end. It was a solid read; I was hooked from the moment our heroine, Evie, discovers a grisly murder, another woman locked up. The premise was fantastic - high octane on the run thriller with gay characters at the forefront. Then why didn't I love it??? Unfortunately there was too much going on for it to stick, and I found Evie's narration to be too choppy and all over the place, even for an unreliable narrator.
bad start but better continuing. interesting thriller without that much really twisty twists. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.
I have to say, Killer Potential was a wild ride! It’s not often that a thriller hooks me from the very first chapter, but this one does. The story follows Evie Gordon, a scholarship kid who's just trying to make ends meet as a tutor, when she stumbles into a grisly crime scene that turns her into a national suspect. What follows is a rollercoaster of suspense, intrigue, and unpredictable twists. I loved how quickly the stakes escalated and how Evie’s character evolved from a hopeful young woman into a savvy, on-the-run fugitive.
Deitch's writing is fast-paced, sharp, and full of unexpected turns. The plot is full of dark humor, and I couldn’t help but root for Evie—even though her actions were often morally ambiguous. It’s that type of book where you question everything, and the ending? It’ll leave you thinking long after you turn the last page.
If you enjoy stories with a strong, complicated female lead and enjoy thrillers with a biting social commentary, Killer Potential will definitely scratch that itch. It’s a page-turner through and through, but you might just be exhausted (in the best way) by the end!
3.5 stars
How does a gifted student and talented academic suddenly become the most wanted criminal in America? Evie wasn't expecting to go on the run when she showed up to her usual tutoring job one afternoon, only to find a gruesome murder scene and a mysterious woman held captive in a closet. As the two flee the scene of the crime, the lines between victim and suspect suddenly blurred, they forge what is first a tentative trust needed for survival. Criss-crossing the country, stealing food and cars to survive, Evie and the woman develop a complicated relationship that is both tender and surprising. Encountering various situations that are sometimes funny and sometimes tense, they grapple with a future that looks not at all like what they were promised.
I found this book more interesting than funny or thrilling. In terms of social commentary I thought it was spot on, shining a light on the eccentric and bad behaviors of the very rich and the realistic struggles of the middle class to afford education. I was fascinated by Evie's struggles to view herself as "bad" even though she didn't commit the crime. The psychological insights in this book were the highlight for me, more so than the plot itself. I did enjoy the twist, and some of the peril that Evie encountered on the run.
In Killer Potential we meet Evie Gordon Evie was straight A scholarship kid from North Carolina. She went to an elite university and ended up in LA and became in SAT tutor to the ultra wealthy. Evie was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She arrived at the home of her clients the Victor’s to find them dead. Evie goes on the run with a mysterious woman who doesn’t speak and a manhunt begins. The media got things wrong with their assumptions. The twists and turns had me not able to set this book down.
There were some chapters my heart was racing, my anxiety was up and I was reading as fast as I could.
This is a don’t miss debut thriller! Thank you for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.
I liked the first half, but it seemed to drag toward the end. I think some editing could make the story tighter. The “twist” didn’t seem that surprising.
I’m really impressed with this debut! I wasn’t sure what to expect, obviously, but it was a fun ride (pun totally intended there!) The characters were well written, and although I didn’t love every character, the author did a great job making those love to hate characters which happened for me with our protagonist a few times. But overall, the story was fun, funny in a dark way, and really kept me interested. I enjoyed the book and would definitely check out this author in the future. 3.5 rounded up to 4.
Ugh. Yes, that was very predictable, wasn't it? Evie is incredibly stupid and immature for someone who makes being a "gifted child" her whole identity and Jae shouldn't have been that boring. Sadly, the cover was the best part.
4.5
Setting: all over the US
Rep: sapphic protagonist; Korean-Ukrainian lesbian protagonist
Be gay, do crime. That's it, that's the book. I tore through this so fast! I thought it was going to be a dumb light-hearted road trip mystery in a kind of Finlay Donovan voice but it wasn't at all. It's heartfelt and surprisingly sad and hot. I really enjoyed Evie and Jae together and I for one think I quite like the ending because it leaves plenty up to the imagination.
Very Bonnie & Clyde/Thelma & Louise vibes but I had a good time. I am a little torn here because there were definitely some things that I couldn't suspend belief on but there were parts that I loved. I knew from the get-go that the "twist" wasn't going to be a twist at all but I was still interested in the story and how everything turned out. I was not really a fan of the romance aspect here not because there was a romance, but because I didn't feel the intimate connection between these two characters. Both Evie and Jae grapple with their own emotions, experiences and memories in this book so I see the connection on that level but the intimacy seemed a bit abrupt.
The synopsis for this book states "Darkly funny and cuttingly hilarious " which I 100% disagree with. I didn't find this book funny or hilarious, dark or otherwise so that was a bit of a let down for me. On the surface this book appears to be a fun thriller/mystery but what we get is a little deeper than that which I appreciated and it kept me reading. I think this book is more of a character study than anything else, it just happens to be mysterious and suspenseful as well.
Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Killer Potential tells the story of a girl in her mid-twenties, who is living in LA as a SAT tutor. Her clients are usually high profile rich kids. One day she walks into a tutoring session to discover two dead bodies. The story picks up from there and tells her tale of her on the run.
I will start off by saying, I love how this book got right into the meat and potatoes. I enjoyed how the author did not waste any time with back story. We got enough as the reader to understand our FMC and the family, but it wasn't over explained. The book had me locked in the first few chapters. I also enjoyed the authors cadence. I found that I really enjoyed their writing. With all that to say... here are the things I did not particularly enjoy. I found that the romance in this book was out of nowhere. We did not see any build up to achieve the romance. Although the romance is not the main plot of the book, it is still a huge part of it. It was very abrupt, especially what we see in the ending. I was waiting for a big reveal at the end, to which there was none. I felt that the 'plot twist' was thrown in there. Once again, not really any context in the length of the book to help us achieve the plot twist. Although I said that I liked how the book jumped into the action right away, this book was easy to put down. It did have short chapters, which was nice, but it didn't have me sucked in. For me, I know a book is brilliant when it consumes my thoughts while I am away from it, and I find myself completely sucked in telling myself "just one more chapter...". Unfortunately for me this book did not have that aspect and as I said was very easy for me to put down.
Overall, I would say if you are someone who wants a little romance and sort of a thriller vibe, this book is for you. For me, I felt the story lacked and have given it a 2 star rating.
Best wishes!
I applaud Hannah Deitch for her debut. Fantastic concept with middle of the road execution. It felt a bit like she wasn't sure what genre she wanted for the book and so she tried to go for more than she should have. It felt a little messy and like it was missing some common sense. I am NOT a fan of books with characters who seem to have lost all common sense. It just feels lazy.
After multiple failed attempts at reading Killer Potential by Hannah Deitch, I will be marking this book as DNF. The writing style was just not for me, and I wasn’t invested in the storyline enough to push through to the end. Though the premise sounded interesting enough, I don’t think this is for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the advanced copy.
This is both a look at our culture, what it values and what constitutes love as well as, after a slower start, a fast moving thriller Evie walks into a double murder and goes on the run with an unknown woman. The tension bulds as they are chased by the nation and as the feelings between them bulld. Once I got into it, I couldn't stop reading. Original and thought provoking and absorbing. 4.5 rounded up
This is the best debut I’ve ever read. It strikes the perfect balance between a thriller and something literary. My only criticism is the title— it’s much lamer compared to the actual book, which is AMAZING.
This Thelma and Louise style plot had potential, but the narrator was long winded and became boring in the end, telling us in stream of consciousness style so many things about her past that were not necessary to the plot or to the advancement of the plot. You would have to skip ahead to find the threads of the current situation, and it became cumbersome.
I was not expecting ‘Killer Instinct’ by Hannah Deitch to go where it went, which is mainly a good thing for a thriller. Part of that was not understanding why the two fugitives didn’t go searching for the real killer to prove their innocence even after one mentioned that’s what they should do. I kind of guessed the ending, but was never quite sure so that was smart on the author’s part. This is more of a character study, which tended to go on a bit long, but once the ending started up there was nice change of pace and a satisfying ending.
As many times as people say they don’t judge a book by its cover… yes we totally do. This book cover caught my eye and so did it my attention. While I do love a great thriller/mystery to unravel one also loves a good heroine come back story.
Evie was someone you could connect with on many levels of her life and you were truly hoping her good heart wouldn’t come back to bite her in the end. But as this story unfolded the truth was revealed as some bumps in the road made you wonder how long Evie could sustain or survive without cracking under the pressure or what more could she get herself into.